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Townshend Maximum Supertweeters

Yes, Maximum. I don’t come up with the names, I just review the stuff, okay? ;) And I got em because everyone keeps telling me I should, and once again they are right. Whew! That was easy!

Kidding! We will now laboriously delve into why you cannot live without these tweeters, that you can’t even hear.

For sure I can’t. My hearing rolls off somewhere north of 15k. If that. These things extend to 90k. Why? What difference can it possibly make?

Who knows? And since when has that stopped me?

So out they come and what have we here? Two heavy black bricks, with a screen on the front and a couple binding posts on the back. In between the posts is a little knob you use to turn them off and set the levels. On the bottom are rudimentary rubber dimple feet. Guess I was expecting Pods or something, this being Townshend. No such luck.

They go on top of the Moabs. Well there is already a BDR Shelf on top, and a HFT dead center right where this thing is supposed to go. Moving HFT even an inch changes the sound so executive decision, the Maximum Supertweeters go just outboard of the HFT. They are first just placed there not even connected, just in case this somehow messes with the sound. It doesn’t.

Okay so now you need to know my system is all messed up. No, not the usual mess I mean really seriously messed up. No turntable. Chris Brady has the bearing for some resurfacing and stuff. So we are slumming with the heavily modded Oppo. Not to fear, Ted Denney sent me some of his latest Atmosphere X (review to come) which with the right tuning bullet the Oppo now sounds....digital. Oh well. KBO.

The usual: Demag. Warmup. Listen a while. Hook em up. What level? Who knows? Moabs are 98dB. How ya gonna know anyway? How can it even matter? How do you even set the level of something you can’t hear? Level 3, good as any. Plug em in. No change. Not the slightest peep out of these things. Total dud. Knew it. Sit back down.

What the...? No way. There is not the slightest hint of top end coming from these things. They may as well not be there at all. Except the whole presentation is somehow different. Top to bottom. No way!

I get up and turn the black magic off. Sit back down. Crap. Flat, grainy, digital. Turn em back on. Deep, liquid, analog.

No, not analog like my turntable. They are just supertweeters after all not magic. But way more analog than it was. More dimensional, more solid, more liquid detailed. More black between the notes, and in the black it is now easier to hear the natural acoustic decay. I do NOT want to go back to listening to CD without this! I cannot wait to hear it with my table.

And I haven’t even had time to get them dialed in yet!



128x128millercarbon
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,460 posts
 
Supertweeters obviously produce no bass but if there are instrument overtones in their range they can boost those  and deliver the full range of certain instruments better.  
Of course you don’t need supertweeters for that unless your system is otherwise just not producing enough to satisfy at those higher frequencies.   Most good speakers will go up to 20khz by design.   Some more than others by design.  Supertweeter can help there if needed but most importantly our hearing deteriorates with the age and most older audiophiles do not hear above 10khz or so like they used to so an  adjustable high frequency driver can help.    That or DSP or an equalizer god forbid.   Many ways to tune the sound to ones ears as needed. 
pedroeb
493 posts
 
millercarbon OPjay mark, Good to hear. Thanks

Now I'm wondering if there is much difference between brands?

You mentioned the improvement with CDs is exceptional. Since CDs cutoff at 20kHz, I'm wondering what is being emitted? Are they creating harmonics (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and if so, it might suggest some brands may well be better than others.

There seems to be sceptics who use human hearing range as the excuse. There is no reason to believe higher frequencies aren't entering the ear and interacting with frequencies we can hear.

Your thoughts on all of the above would be gratefully appreciated.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
Good question. Never tried anything else. I do know there are a couple people who tried cheaper ones that weren’t as good. So quality does count for something even here.

I have no idea what it is we are hearing or why it works at all with CD. Only know it does. Now with my turntable the sound is really something. Which is the bigger improvement CD or LP? Don’t ask. Who knows. They are so different. All I know is they both got a lot better, and in the same ways.

This paper has a pretty good discussion of what is going on. http://www.townshendaudio.com/PDF/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf

The most important thing I think is there are about 15k hair cells in the ear that sense sound, but only about 3k of them respond to the 20-20k range we call "audible". That leaves 12k that respond to sounds we cannot hear. Four times as many, for something we cannot hear seems a bit odd to me.

Another great example of how what we can measure falls so far short of what we can hear. Anyone who tries supertweeters will know in an instant we certainly can hear these ultra-sonic inaudible frequencies. The question is not whether we can or not. We can. The question is how?

That is one for psychoacousticians. Me, I am an audiophile. If it works, if it makes my system sound better, I just do it. You probably are right, inaudible frequencies get in there and interact with audible ones. Would it be nice to know why, sure. But ultimately? Long as it works that is good enough for me.
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pedroeb
493 posts
 
Are Townshend Maximum Supertweeters the best add on option? Are there others that are almost as good or dare I say even better?
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